Sotomayor brings a pragmatic approach to business cases
Filed under: Company News, Economy, People
Newly minted Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is much harder to pigeonhole than her opponents seem to believe, especially on business cases.
The first Hispanic on the nation's highest court has written about 150 opinions on business and civil cases, and according to experts consulted by The New York Times, showed no clear bias either for or against business interests. Sometimes her views were backed up by colleagues; at other times, her decisions were reversed by the Supreme Court. She has also represented business interests as an attorney in private practice.
In fact, she was endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. President Tom Donohue said of Sotomayor, "With her unique experience as both a trial and appellate judge, Judge Sotomayor has seen firsthand the tremendous burdens that our legal system places on businesses."
In a closely split court, Sotomayor could prove to be a decisive vote on many key cases heard by the court this term. About 24 out of 45 cases on the court's docket for this term, which began at the start of the month, deal with business issues, according to the National Chamber Litigation Center of the United States Chamber of Commerce. The court Monday let stand the insider trading conviction of former Quest CEO Joseph Nacchio and is expected to rule on the appeal of former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling.
In Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the court will also decide on the constitutionality of a regulatory board created in the wake of the Enron scandal. The role courts should play in setting the compensation to mutual fund advisors will be examined in Jones v. Harris Associates, according to The New York Times. In a friend-of-the-court brief, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce urges the court to reject a regulation-by-litigation approach.
New York University law professor Richard Pildes told the paper that the decisions in these cases will signal how receptive the court is to further regulation of financial markets in the wake of the worst economic slowdown since the Great Depression.
The question of whether professional sports teams should continue to be exempt from antitrust regulations is central to the case of American Needle v. National Football League. Other sports leagues are following the case closely and have filed briefs backing the NFL. Time said the case may be "the most important legal decision in sporting history."
The Chamber continues to worry about a potential new wave of securities regulations. Free speech concerns will be center stage when the court takes up the question of whether the government has the right to outlaw the distribution of a dogfighting video and whether campaign finance laws cover politically charged movies such as Hillary. Looks like Sotomayor won't be salsa dancing or throwing out the first pitch at Yankees games for a while.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-05-2009 @ 1:06PM
motu said...
Please stop showing the grinning picture of Sotamayor. Surely, somewhere along the line, someone caught her in a serious mood. The picture you show is one showing her jubilation at fooling everybody into thinking she is a super intelligent hispanic lady, smarter than the senators who tried to question her.
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10-05-2009 @ 1:07PM
Renegade said...
Pragmatic"? She, like the Anti-American scum who nominated her, bring a bigoted and biased view to the highest court in the land. God help us! Robert Bork should be sitting on that court.
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10-05-2009 @ 1:47PM
ben irving said...
wanting scum like Robt. Bork on the court tells me everything I need to know about how warped your views are.
10-05-2009 @ 4:24PM
joe said...
Another one of America's haters in a role that can wipe out the America as we all once knew it. I am getting so sick and tired of race issues. I had nothing to do with the slavery era. It is upsetting to me seeing how african Americans were treated. They should not show that stuff anymore. Its history, but when young kids see that, exspecially African Americans, it most likely has a negative affect. It makes the white kids feelk guilty and the black kids angry. Please speak out your opinions loudly if you have one regarding race. Do not be fearful of being labeled a racist. This is the weapon of choice for minorities. They know you will black down immediately just by the mere mention of racist. We are all equal now. Have the same rights. Free to go anywhere, etc. Also lighten up when people make racist comments or jokes. If I am called a honkey or cracker, (why cracker?), who cares. Its silly to get upset over. But, if their were no gain for a minority to claim racism they would not use it! Sonia will change laws in favor of minority, no doubt. Obama, Sonia, and company want to rid this country of whites.
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10-05-2009 @ 5:06PM
Robert Bennett said...
U.S. Chamber of Commerce. President Tom Donohue is quoted as saying, "With her unique experience as both a trial and appellate judge, Judge Sotomayor has seen firsthand the tremendous burdens that our legal system places on businesses."
However, nd we can only hope that she will favor reducing rather than increasing the legal burdens placed on American Business.
Unfortunately, she was nominated by President Obama to replace Justice Ginsberg primarily because of her liveral views, her sex and her ethnicity.
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10-05-2009 @ 5:36PM
Bob said...
Alito and Roberts NEVER received this much scrutiny before or after their appointments to the Supreme Court, even though their decisions have clearly revealed them to be conservative activists.....Oh, I forgot... Its "different" if you're a republican......
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10-05-2009 @ 6:29PM
Richard said...
I wonder how she will come down on the issue of the flag on Government property in the desert...ACLU states iot is a religeous issue on government land....I asked ACLU is not Arlington National Cemetary also government land and has many thousands of crosses?
The crosses have been covered up because 'one person' objected....I wrote to ACLU and stated if they ever try to cover those crosses in Arlington National Cemetary on the same grounds (above) because they also are crosses are they not?....The American People will not tolerate this...at least that is my wish
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10-05-2009 @ 7:32PM
Lanceaf said...
How many of Sotomayer's decisons were overturned or criticized for faulty logic?
(Bob, you should look up the facts before labeling things liberal or conservative... There's a reason Sotomayer faced more scrutiny---she was less qualified!!)
Barack Hussein's administration has destroyed the meritocracy of America... It's criminal...
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10-06-2009 @ 7:47PM
Zheka said...
You don't know anything about "Supreme Court".Robert Bork had more knowledge under his fingernail dirt,than Sonia will ever have.She's same as ginzburg,but 100 Lbs.bigger"porker"ha-ha-ha. Something is wrong with berry soetoro for nominating this biggot-sotomajor!
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